Communication system for persons with cerebral palsy: In situ observation of social interaction following assisted information request

Abstract

People with disabilities may encounter many communication difficulties. Our main goal is to develop a communication system, called COMMOB, designed to assist people with cerebral palsy in different contexts: at home, at work and in public places. After a brief review of the different categories of assistive communication systems, our user-centered design approach is presented. It was tested in a public place in the context of a help request by a cerebral palsy person in a wheelchair. The result concerns particularly the response rate. The assistive power of COMMOB was rated from the respondents' and the user's point of view. The main lesson to be learned is that the most difficult was to attract the attention of people and to engage the interaction. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.